Always?
by standingon.words
Summary: Courtney was glad to finally be able to leave on her Pokémon adventure, especially since it meant finally getting away from Shelly's constant torment. Shelly definitely wasn't going to make it easy for her though. Would Courtney be able to free herself from her bully, or will she find herself with a new found appreciation for her instead?
1. So won't you come along with me tonight?

Courtney studied the Pokéball in her hand with barely restrained glee— a rare emotion coming from the usually timid girl. She had been looking forward to the day when she could leave on her journey for a long time.

She missed out on the age cutoff to leave with the rest of her class, which wasn't too bad: it meant she didn't have to deal with the big ceremony the rest of her class went through. Today it was just Courtney, and no pomp and circumstance. She preferred it that way.

"So you picked Torchic huh?" The girl standing next to Courtney said, with a slight sneer.

Well, it wasn't _just_ Courtney. There was one other girl getting her Pokémon with her. Her name was Shelly, and she couldn't have been more different than Courtney. Shelly was a lot taller than Courtney, who was tiny. Her dark skin contrasted against Courtney's ghost-like complexion. She was loud, outgoing, and boisterous.

She also loved to annoy Courtney.

Courtney had no idea why, but for as long as she could remember Shelly has singled her out for torment. At least Shelly had been relatively harmless as far as bullies go. As much as she messed with Courtney, Shelly never did anything truly mean or hateful—especially compared to how a lot of their other classmates treated Courtney.

"Well, if you picked Torchic, then I'm taking Mudkip!" Shelly said, trying to sound as obnoxious as possible. She was obviously just trying to tease Courtney, so she didn't let it bother her.

"Take all the advantages you can, because even a type advantage won't be enough for you to beat me," Courtney said, completely deadpan.

Shelly bent down so she was at eye level with Courtney. "You wanna put your money where mouth is then?"

Courtney wanted to tell her it was a waste of time for the two to battle with Pokémon who hadn't been trained at all, but she knew Shelly would just call her a coward or something.

"Okay, fine. You're on," she said.

* * *

><p>The battle couldn't have been less remarkable. Of course, it's what's to be expected when two rookie trainers try to make their equally inexperienced Pokémon do battle. In the end Courtney managed to come out on top.<p>

"Oh, looks like you were right all along," Shelly said, although it was obvious losing didn't bother her too much. She grinned. "I'll get you back next time though!"

The two would never see each other again, let alone battle, if Courtney had any say in it.

"Sure."

"Well, I have to go say goodbye to my family, so I'll catch you later!"

Shelly surprised Courtney with an embrace, although to Courtney it felt more like the taller girl was trying to smother her in her breasts. She shoved Shelly away. Shelly just giggled, then waved as she hurried away.

* * *

><p>Like Shelly, Courtney also stopped at home to say goodbye to her family, and also to pick up the bag of supplies she had collected for her journey.<p>

It was another hour before she finally set off. She was about to step outside the limits of Verdanturf when someone grabbed her from behind and a familiar pair of breasts pressed into the back of her head.

Courtney sighed.

"You weren't going to leave without me were you?" Shelly giggled playfully.

"Leave me alone!" Courtney struggled, but couldn't get out of Shelly's grip.

"Aww, don't be like that! I'm just trying to be friendly! Besides, you're not supposed to take the first steps of your journey alone!"

Courtney finally managed to squirm enough to get Shelly to let her go. She turned her head and glared back at the other girl. "Why not?"

"Becauuuuse! It's more romantic to take your first step with a partner, of course!"

Courtney turned bright red. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

Shelly cackled.

"Aww, you're too cute! Don't worry, I was just playing around. Unless… Unless you really do want to be my girlfriend?" Shelly teased.

Courtney scoffed. "Get real— I don't want to be with you!"

Shelly looked like she was genuinely hurt. "Aw…"

Suddenly, she grabbed Courtney's arm in hers.

"We're wasting time aren't we? Let's take our first steps together!"

Courtney tried to resist, but Shelly was too strong for her, and she had to follow or else she would've fallen flat on her face. Shelly led Courtney until the two were past the sign welcoming people into Verdanturf.

Shelly giggled. "Aren't you glad we shared our first time?"

Courtney pulled her arm away. "What are you even saying!? Ugh!"

Shelly laughed some more. Courtney was beginning to wonder if she was ever _not _laughing.

"Well, I'd better get going! I'm not going to get better than you at battling by standing around, after all. Tata!"

Courtney glared daggers at the other girl as she strutted away.

Courtney waited until Shelly was gone and dug through her bag to find her map. She studied it for a moment, then groaned. She would have to pass through Mauville in order to go anywhere else. Mauville was probably big enough that she could avoid Shelly, but she was hoping she could go to a completely different city to guarantee their paths wouldn't cross. She looked down at the map some more. She _could_ try crossing the mountains north of Verdanturf west to Rustboro, but the Pokémon on the mountain were supposed to be really strong, so that would probably be too dangerous for a beginner trainer.

Courtney sighed and began walking. All she could do was hope that Mauville was big enough to keep Shelly from finding her. Courtney rubbed the back of her head. She was used to being manhandled by her family, but it felt differently when Shelly hugged her. Courtney scoffed at the thought. She wasn't going to be fooled by the Shelly's faux affection, although she had to admit that the other girl's brand of teasing felt less malicious than that of their peers. Courtney's other classmates bullied her mercilessly over her being a lesbian, and the other girls in particular treated her as if she would become aroused simply by brushing shoulders with them.

"Maybe she's actually serious…" Courtney wondered out loud.

No way, she thought. It was stupid of her to even think that. She had seen the other girl with boyfriends, even. Not that Courtney cared too much— Shelly really was too annoying for Courtney to be interesting in going out with. The memory of getting a faceful of Shelly's breasts that morning flashed to the front of Courtney's mind. Courtney's face turned bright red.

She _definitely_ didn't want anything to do with Shelly.


	2. I'll see you when we're both not so emo

It took Courtney four days to finally reach Mauville. She made sure to take her sweet time, in hopes that by the time she reached the city Shelly would be long gone. Courtney felt satisfied with herself for coming up with such a simple solution to her problem. It meant she was behind on her adventure, but she had spent enough of her time training her Pokémon that she would be more than able to breeze through her first few Gym battles, which should make up for the lost time.

The Gym happened to be right by the west border of Mauville, and was the building that greeted Courtney to the city. If she wanted, she could take on the leader and be out of the city before nightfall.

Courtney's stomach growled.

She was dying for a good meal. It's not like she needed to hurry through Mauville anyway; Shelly would be long gone, so the rest of her journey would be smooth sailing. She walked right past the Gym and went searching for a nice place to eat.

* * *

><p>It was her first time in a Pokémon Center, and although she expected it to be as sterile as you would expect from a hospital, the lobby for the public felt more like a kind of lounge. People— most of them looking to be around Courtney's age— and Pokémon alike were spread around, reading, or using their computers, or talking about various nothings while light instrumental music played from speakers spread around the room, quietly enough that it wouldn't disturb anyone. Even Courtney, who tended to shy away from social environments, felt comfortable in the building.<p>

She walked over to the counter and handed the nurse her three Pokéballs, containing her Combusken and a Poochyena and Nuzleaf she had caught on the road to Mauville.

"It'll just be a moment," the nurse said, a cheery smile on her face as she took Courtney's Pokémon.

Courtney nodded in acknowledgement, then went to find a place to sit and wait. It was forty-five minutes later when the nurse called Courtney to retrieve her Pokémon. Courtney thanked her and made her way to the exit. She opened the door, took a single step through, and immediately bumped right into someone trying to enter the Center.

"S-sor—" Courtney began.

"Ah, Courtney!" The other person exclaimed.

Of course, it was none other than Shelly. She grabbed Courtney in a big hug.

"I've been in town for two days so far and I hadn't seen you! I was worried I had missed you!" She said.

Courtney struggled and shoved Shelly off of her. She took a deep breath— she'd swear Shelly was genuinely trying to kill her with her breasts.

"Were you waiting for me?" Courtney was actually a little weirded out. Shelly's teasing bothered Courtney for sure, but stalking was an entirely different level.

Shelly laughed. "No, I wasn't! I promise. I've just been having some problems battling the Gym Leader, so I've been stuck here. I thought you had gone and beat them and moved on without even seeing me is all! So if you're still in Mauville does that mean you've been having trouble too? We should train together!"

Courtney scoffed. "No, that's not why I'm here! I only just got to Mauville." She wanted to say that she took so long to get to the city because she was specifically trying to avoid Shelly, but it felt a little too mean. "I was training, so that's why it took so long."

"Ooh, then I bet you're totally strong enough to beat the Gym Leader! Can I come watch your battle, so I can pick up some tips?"

Courtney wanted to say no, but realized Shelly would probably follow her along anyway.

"Yeah, sure. I guess. Just don't distract me."

"Aw, thanks!" Shelly hugged Courtney again, but quickly this time, and the deep breath Courtney took in preparation for the hug ended up being unnecessary. "I need to heal my Pokémon, but you don't need to wait for me; I'll catch up!"

Courtney only grunted in response before heading out to the Gym.

Shelly caught up to Courtney right as she reached the Gym. Although Courtney was sure that her training was more than enough for her to be able to breeze through her first Gym battle, she felt apprehensive as she stood outside the Gym. Shelly wished her luck, and she pushed herself forward and entered the Gym.

The inside of the Gym was big and spacious, and painted on the floor was the familiar battlefield used in all official Pokémon League battles. There was a man talking to a pair of teenagers who stopped to look over at the entrance when the girls walked in.

"Miss Shelly, back again already I see!" He laughed in a very jovial, Santa Claus way.

"Not this time Mr. Wattson! I'm just here to watch my friend kick your butt!" Shelly responded.

Courtney winced. Wattson laughed some more, then walked over to the girls. He actually looked a lot like Santa Claus too— he had a big round belly, a fluffy white beard, and was starting to go bald.

"And what's your name missy?" He asked Courtney.

"C-Courtney," she replied. She always hated being the center of attention.

"So I'm guessing that since you're friends with Miss Shelly that this is your first Gym battle? Do you know how this works?"

"Y-yeah, I do."

"Good! Give me all you've got then!" Wattson laughed as he walked away to take his place on one side of the arena.

Courtney scurried to the opposite side, with Shelly keeping in tow behind her.

Wattson tossed out a Pokéball, revealing his first Pokémon, a Plusle.

"Whenever you're ready!" He shouted to Courtney.

Courtney shut her eyes and took a deep breath. In addition to the two teenagers Wattson was talking to before there were a couple other people in the Gym training. She didn't like having to battle in front of so many people, but she knew that she didn't really have any choice. She tried her best to block out everyone else, then Courtney sent out her Combusken to start the battle.

"Use Double Kick Combusken!" Courtney ordered.

"Shock Wave," Wattson said to his Plusle.

The two Pokémon ran at each other. Combusken was the faster of the two and after stopping on its left foot punted the Plusle up into the air with its right; then, as the Pokémon fell back down Combusken kicked it a second time, sending it flying backwards.

Plusle struggled to get back to its feet. It stumbled, but managed to shoot off a surge of electricity at Courtney's Pokémon, but Combusken brushed off the attack like it was nothing.

"Use Double Kick again!"

Combusken obeyed, and after closing the distance between itself and the other Pokémon punted it again, but before it could follow up with a second kick Wattson recalled it.

"Very good!" He said, laughing. "I can see you take your training very seriously, unlike your friend!"

He tossed out his next Pokémon Minun.

"Start with Nasty Plot, Minun," he said to his Pokémon.

"Keep using Double Kick Combusken!"

Courtney didn't exactly know what Wattson's Minun was doing, but it didn't even try to dodge her Combusken's attack. To its credit, it handled the attack better than the Plusle before it, but it was still obviously hurting from the attack.

"Minun, Shock Wave," Wattson ordered.

The Pokémon swiftly lunged at Courtney's Combusken, clinging to its chest as it unleashed a powerful burst of electricity. It was a lot more powerful than Plusle's but wasn't enough to take Combusken out.

Combusken quickly hopped to its feet, and without even waiting for Courtney's order unleashed another pair of quick kicks on its opponent.

The Minun hit the ground with a soft thud, then tried to get back up, but was unable to. Wattson recalled it. When he didn't send out another Pokémon Courtney recalled her Combusken as well.

"Yeah!" Shelly shouted, hugging Courtney from behind.

Wattson crossed the field so that he was standing in front of Courtney.

"Congratulations on winning your first Gym battle!" He said with a huge grin on his face. He held out his hand, in which was a small bin. "This is the Dynamo Badge! You've earned it! Also here's a little bonus."

He handed Courtney a yellow disc, which she recognized immediately as a TM.

"That's the TM for Shock Wave! I'm sure you'll get good use out of it!"

"Th-thanks…" Courtney said.

He patted her shoulder. "Good luck with the rest of your journey!" He said before turning away to go back and pick up the conversation he had been having with the teenagers when the girls entered the Gym.

Shelly released Courtney, only to turn her around. She giggled.

"Here's an extra special gift from me!" She leaned down and gave Courtney a quick peck on the cheek.

Courtney shoved her away.

"Ew, I don't want your germs!"

Shelly just laughed. Courtney grunted and turned to leave the Gym.

"That was really cool Courtney!" Shelly gushed as the two stepped back out into the city. "You completely crushed him!"

As annoying as Courtney found Shelly, she didn't mind having her ego stroked too much. Really, the battle didn't actually take much skill on her part— the two frivolous days of training she took while trying to avoid Shelly made her team overpowered.

"How did you get so strong?"

"I trained. A lot," Courtney answered matter-of-factly.

"That's all, huh?" Shelly grimaced, but then her expression brightened. "Maybe you could train me!"

The absolute last thing Courtney wanted was to spend so much time with Shelly.

"Train on your own," Courtney said, "I didn't need anyone's help." She turned to walk back to the Pokémon Center to restore her Pokémon before heading off to continue her journey.

Shelly stopped Courtney from leaving by grabbing her from behind.

"Aw, come on!" She said.

"No! I want to keep going so I can get my next badge. I don't want to have to waste time training you." Courtney tugged out of Shelly grip and began walking away, but Shelly followed after her. Courtney sighed. "I'm not going to change my mind; you don't have to follow me."

Shelly giggled. "I'm not following you. You're going to the Pokémon Center aren't you? Well I left my Pokémon behind so I could get to the Gym in time to see your battle. I need to go back to pick them up!"

"Ugh, whatever."

Courtney tried to block the other girl out and continued walking, but Shelly stepped around so she was next to her. She wrapped her arm around Courtney's, then delicately squeezed the other girl's hand.

"People'll think we're girlfriends!" Shelly laughed.

That was the last straw. Courtney ripped her arm away from Shelly.

"Would you just stop it already!?" Courtney shouted at the other girl.

Shelly stared down at the shorter girl, stunned. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"I get it; I'm a lesbian. I don't need you teasing me by holding my hand and shoving your breasts in my face to remind me. You're almost worse than all the other girls at school who used to pick on me! At least with them it was obvious how they felt about me! But you… You send me all these mixed messages and leave me confused. '_Oh, maybe she actually does like me_.' But no, of course you don't. You just act like you do because you think it's funny seeing me react. I've had to put up with so much torment just because I decided not to keep it a secret that I liked girls, and now that I should finally be free from it I don't need you hanging around to keep reminding me of it."

Shelly started to cry, but Courtney was too angry to care.

"Just leave me alone from now on," she said.

Courtney started to walk away, but Shelly stopped her. She didn't hug Courtney for once, but only grabbed her by the arm.

"W-wait…" Shelly's voice was weak and trembling.

Courtney didn't even turn around. "I said to leave me alone."

"No, wait. Listen. I-I _do _like you. I'm just… I'm not brave like you were, so I never came out and said I liked girls. I've liked you for a long time though. I… I always thought you were so strong. Nothing anyone said seemed to phase you. I wish I was more like that… I could've come out— I could've told you my feelings sooner."

"You had a bunch of boyfriends while we were in school. You're lying," Courtney said. She wasn't sure if she believed Shelly was lying, but she was so angry that she didn't want to feel sympathetic to the girl who was now sobbing.

"N-no— I mean, yeah, I did. I had boyfriends, but I'm bisexual. I like boys too but… but I would've rather gone out with you than any of my boyfriends. Honest! I-I couldn't though, because… because then everyone would make fun of me…"

"So even though you could've been someone I could've sympathized with— someone I could talk to— you stayed quiet because you didn't want to be treated like me?" Courtney's voice was cold as ice.

Shelly fell to her knees, sobbing. "I-I'm sorry…" She said, almost too quietly to hear.

Courtney didn't respond, and began walking away.

She couldn't let Shelly see that she had started crying too.

Truth be told, she honestly couldn't blame the other girl. She was treated terribly by her classmates, and wouldn't wish her torment on anyone. She herself found herself wishing she had never let anyone know she was a lesbian, so how could she blame Shelly for keeping it to herself? Courtney never felt "brave" for coming out— she felt stupid. She felt like she should be envious of Shelly for being smart enough to not tell anyone.

At the same time, she felt completely justified. Shelly consciously let her suffer on her own, when she could've been there beside her. Instead of crying alone in her room every day, Courtney would have had someone to cry with. Maybe they wouldn't have gotten picked on at all if Shelly came out even— sure, it was easy to pick on a small quiet girl like Courtney, but Shelly was as tall as some of the boys on the basketball team. Maybe people would've been too afraid to bully her.

_Yeah_, Courtney thought, _I did the right thing. Shelly was the one who was wrong._

She wasn't sure she believed that.

She was at the Pokémon Center for about a half hour, but Shelly didn't show up while she was there. She didn't know if she ever would see the other girl again after that. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to. Shelly actively let Courtney suffer all alone, and Courtney felt that it wouldn't be wrong of her to _never_ forgive Shelly for that. Then again, even though Shelly had never been there for her in the past, her confession gave Courtney the impression that she could trust that Shelly would stay by her side.

An image of Shelly consoling her flashed in Courtney's mind. It made her frown like there was a bitter taste in her mouth, but at the same time it seemed incredibly welcome.

Courtney had never been in a relationship. Her only experience with them came from the obviously unrealistic portrayals of romance in books, TV shows, and manga. The one thing she could say definitively though— ironically enough thanks to Shelly— was that the feeling of someone's arms around her was the most comforting feeling she had experienced.

The phantom sensation of Shelly's arms around Courtney felt especially agonizing, since Courtney couldn't have felt colder as she walked north out of Mauville.

She would be perfectly content to never see the city again.


	3. I'll keep out of your way

Courtney was finding it hard to motivate herself to keep moving, which meant that once again it took her a lot longer than it should have for her to reach her next destination. She had been traveling for almost three weeks when she finally reached Lilycove.

Lilycove was a big city. It didn't have a Gym, instead it was known for its Pokémon Contests. Contests were well out of Courtney's comfort zone, but she had considered at least trying them when she first left on her journey. Now though, imagining herself on a stage in a stupid dress smiling like an idiot was only making her angry now.

She didn't think she had it in her to even fake a smile at the moment.

Courtney pushed the thoughts of Pokémon Contests out of her mind as she took her first steps into the city. Her first stop was the Pokémon Center, which was one of the first buildings on the road into Lilycove, conveniently enough.

She didn't feel like sitting around waiting for her Pokémon to heal, so she left to go for a walk, with hopes that she could clear her head.

She headed south until she reached the cliff faces that ran along the whole southern face of the city. She stared down at the water below, then nudged a small rock over the edge with her foot, sending it tumbling down. It splashed almost inaudibly once it hit the water. Courtney shuddered and stepped away from the edge. She never was too comfortable with heights.  
>She walked along the edge for a while until finally deciding to go back to the Center to pick up her Pokémon.<p>

She had to pass the Contest Hall on her way to the Pokémon Center.

Shelly would probably love Contests. Courtney could imagine Shelly dressing her up and forcing her on stage against her will. It was the same type of teasing she always had to put up with in school, but after what had happened, Courtney felt she would almost welcome getting that treatment again. She had stopped walking to fight back tears, when she heard a familiar voice.

"That was a lot of fun, wasn't it?"

Courtney froze up completely.

She turned to face the opposite direction and began hurrying away, so she didn't have to see whoever Shelly was talking to— who Shelly had replaced her with.

She couldn't help sneaking a peak.

Shelly was with another girl. She was a lot shorter than Shelly, although that wasn't saying much as Shelly was almost Amazonian in height. She had big, dorky-looking glasses, and actually looked awkward and nerdy in general, except for her turquoise-dyed hair. Courtney knew right away that that must have been Shelly's doing.

It gave off the impression that Shelly was specifically using the other girl to replace Courtney. Courtney felt a twinge of jealousy. She wanted to go up to the other girl and push her away from Shelly, to claim Shelly as hers, to take back what had happened in Mauville.

At the same time, she was angry at Shelly herself. Why did _she_ get to be happy? Courtney had been miserable ever since that day, but Shelly was able to meet a new friend and get over what happened so quickly? It wasn't fair.

Shelly looked right in Courtney's direction.

The two made eye contact.

Courtney ran.

She heard Shelly call after her, but she blocked out her voice.

Before she knew it she was back at the Pokémon Center, leaning against the wall and panting. She slid down until she was sitting on the ground.

She started to cry.

She had been hoping to try apologizing to Shelly the next time the two met. Maybe they could forget what happened the last time they were together— that they could actually be together— but Shelly didn't need Courtney anymore, so it was pointless.

Courtney felt so stupid.

She sat there for a little while, until she finally stopped crying. She could feel onlookers staring at her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Finally she stood. She wiped her tears away, then sighed. She had original planned to stay in Lilycove for a little while, but she had had enough of the city.

She entered the Center to retrieve her Pokémon. She thanked the Nurse, then began trekking toward the coast to take a ferry to Mossdeep City.

Courtney was close to the ferry docks when someone grabbed her by the arm. She didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.

"Courtney, I—" Shelly started.

"I don't want to hear it," Courtney said, pulling away from the other girl. She knew that being around Shelly any more was just going to make her cry again.

"Courtney, please," Shelly said, her voice weak. She was obviously on the verge of tears, if she wasn't already crying.

Courtney winced, then turned around.

Shelly looked terrible. She hadn't gotten a good look at her earlier— she was too focused on the girl Shelly was with at the time— but now that she could see the other girl was in terrible shape.

For as long as Courtney knew her Shelly had always caked on makeup, but now the only makeup on her looked like it had been applied days ago and that she just hadn't wiped it off. Her eyes were red and puffy, from crying most likely. She wasn't emaciated, but she looked like she hadn't been eating enough.

When she saw Shelly earlier Courtney was sure the other girl was already over her, but now it was obvious she was suffering just as much— if not more— than Courtney.

Courtney clenched her eyes, trying her hardest not to start crying again, but it was useless. She felt Shelly place her hand on her shoulder. She suddenly found herself feeling guilty. She was so angry at Shelly for being able to be happy, but Shelly was in just as bad shape as her. She didn't deserve Shelly's sympathy. She slapped Shelly's hand away, then dashed off. Shelly was too stunned to react, so Courtney got away easily.

_I'm such an idiot!_ Courtney thought. She hadn't actually intended to run— in fact that had happened completely instinctually. She sighed and turned around to go walk back to Shelly, but unfortunately the other girl was gone by the time Courtney returned to where she had been.

Courtney sighed.

She didn't want that to be how their last meeting played out, but it couldn't be helped anymore. She continued walking toward the coast.

Courtney finally reached a ferry dock. There were a few people in line ahead of her to purchase tickets, so she waited.

She felt a hand tap her shoulder.

She jumped and spun around.

It was the girl Shelly had been with. Courtney's eyes darted around to find Shelly, but she seemed to be nowhere in sight. Courtney furrowed her brow, confused.

"What do you want?" Her voice sounded almost accusatory. She didn't mean to sound hostile, but she didn't apologize either.

"U-um…" Courtney never thought she was particularly intimidating, but she certainly seemed to be having an effect on the other girl. "M-my name's Lisia. Shelly told me a lot about you. I know about how you two got into a fight and everything and stuff… I saw what happened when she tried to talk to you before. I know you must still be angry at her, but you have to let Shelly apologize to you. She's been really beating herself up because of what happened. I even have to force her to eat sometimes. I-I know that you have every right to not want to talk to her, but please! It would be cruel to leave her to suffer like this. You… I don't think you'd be cruel like that. Please, just let her talk to you one more time, and then you never have to see her ever again."

Courtney looked away from the other girl. She was surprised to find out how much Lisia cared for Shelly. In fact, she probably cared more about Shelly than Courtney could.

Courtney had wanted to take Shelly back from Lisia. She found herself feeling like she really didn't deserve Shelly after all.

"Where…" Courtney had to force the words out of her throat. "Where is Shelly?"

"I-I… I don't know. She ran off after you before, but she isn't back yet. She told me to wait here, so if you stay with me here she should be back any minute."

Courtney was silent for a moment. Lisia was right— Courtney _couldn't_ leave without saying goodbye to Shelly. She had a feeling in her gut that it really would be the last time the two would get to see each other, so there was no way should could leave things as they were and feel happy with herself later.

Suddenly, a loud horn blared out, making both girls jump. Almost in unison they turned, and saw that the ferry had begun pulling away.

"I guess I don't have a choice," Courtney said, "it's going to be a little while until the next ferry leaves. Just let me get a ticket and I'll wait for her with you."

Lisia only nodded in response.

Courtney bought her ticket, then the two girls found a bench nearby to sit and wait.

It was only a few minutes before they spotted Shelly returning to meet back up with Lisia.

Courtney started to feel nervous. She found herself wanting to run again, but she steeled herself as she stood.

Shelly spotted her, and even though she was still a good distance away the look of relief on her face was clear to Courtney. Shelly all but ran over to her. Courtney was almost knocked back onto the bench from the force of Shelly throwing her arms around her, but she managed to keep her footing. Courtney was barely able to notice Lisia walking away to give the two of them some privacy.

"Sh-Shelly…" Courtney's voice trailed off as she realized she had no idea what to say.

"Courtney, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry about everything. I know you probably hate me, but… I want you to know that I regret never coming out to you and telling you the truth. I-I get that you probably don't want to see me again after this, but I just needed you to know that I'm sorry…"

"I…" Courtney still couldn't think of anything to say.

"I'll let you go now," Shelly said, releasing Courtney. She smiled, though the tears streaming down her face betrayed how forced it was. "Maybe someday we'll see each other again, when you're not mad at me anymore!"

She turned and started to walk away.

"N-no!" Courtney shouted.

Shelly turned back around, surprised.

"I don't… I don't hate you," Courtney said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I'm not even mad at you. I mean, I was, but not anymore. It wasn't your fault that you never said anything. I wouldn't want to be treated how everyone treated me either. You're the one who should be mad at me. It was so awful of me to leave you crying there in the street in Mauville. The way I treated you that day was terrible. The truth is I've felt so bad about what happened, and I've wished I could take it back. You have Lisia now though, so you don't need me. You're probably better off. I think she'll treat you better than I ever could."

"I-I don't think so. I think if things had happened differently you'd treat me just as good as she does. …I bet you think I replaced you with her, huh?"

"Y-yeah, it seemed like that…"

"Well, that's not how it happened. Two weeks ago I had fainted, I guess because I hadn't eaten or something. She found me and took care of me. She could tell that I was depressed and stuck with me to make sure I was okay. It was completely by chance that it happened to be her."

"Are you two actually together?" Courtney decided to take a chance— neither girl had said it outright, so maybe they were just friends.

"We are, yeah. I brought it up to her just a few days ago." Courtney's expression must have made it obvious that hearing that hurt, because Shelly winced and added, "I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize," Courtney said with a weak smile. "You thought I didn't want anything to do with you; it's not your fault."

"I actually waited a while to say anything, because I hoped maybe we might run into each other again. I was hoping that if we crossed paths I could try apologizing and that you might give me a second chance. Once we got to Lilycove without running into you I started to think that you were too far ahead of me to catch up.

"I don't think I'm going to leave Lilycove. Lisia wants to be a Contest Idol, because she's never been good at battling. I'm pretty lousy too, so I think it might be better for me too. Most likely once you get on your ferry we really will never see each other again. This really is goodbye then… Could we at least say this goodbye as friends?"

Courtney smiled genuinely for the first time in a long time.

"Yeah."

The two girls embraced.

"Hopefully we do get to see each other again someday," Shelly said, before planting a quick peck on Courtney's forehead.

"Y-yeah…"

The girls let go of each other. Shelly smiled sadly at Courtney one last time before turning to go to Lisia, who was waiting a small distance away. Courtney walked away as well. She didn't actually have anywhere to go, because the ferry had yet to reach the dock, but it felt to her as if leaving was the right thing to do— as if by leaving that spot was symbolically leaving everything that had happened between her and Shelly behind.

Shelly was right; they probably never were going to see each other again. That fact saddened Courtney, but she was glad that at least her last memory of the other girl was not nearly as depressing as it could have been. In fact, the chance that if the two ever did see each other again it would be a happy event, and that they could embrace and act like they were friends was enough to make Courtney feel a lot better than she had been feeling only a little while ago.

Courtney found herself finally aboard the ferry a little while later, staring back at the city she was leaving behind as it pulled out of the dock.

_ Hopefully we do get to see each other again someday, _she thought, with a smile on her face.


	4. Don't hate me for running away from you

An explosion rocked the research building Team Magma was currently attempting to take under their control, surprising Courtney and sending her tumbling to the ground.

"What the hell was that!?" she shouted. She wasn't usually one to raise her voice, but the fact that the takeover job wasn't going smoothly at all had her more than a little stressed out. She stood and brushed herself off, then stepped out of the lab to find out what was going on. She opened the door and was greeted by scores of lower members of Team Magma running everywhere.

"Someone give me a status report!"

One of the grunts who were running towards the source of the explosion stopped. "It's Team Aqua, ma'am! They're here in force and are trying to drive us out!" he said, before setting off again.

Courtney cursed under her breath. She had expected Team Aqua to try and make things difficult, but they were a lot earlier than she had expected, and apparently were a lot more prepared for a siege than she expected they were capable of. Normally she would leave the fighting to the grunts while she focused on her objective, but Team Aqua seemed willing to put up a good fight. She couldn't expect the grunts to handle them on their own, so it would be best for her to head the defense herself.

A second explosion, bigger than the first.

Courtney managed to brace herself against the wall, which kept her on her feet. She swore again. She started to run to the source of the explosions to confront Team Aqua when the grunts who had ran ahead of her came running back in frantic retreat. They were all covered in cuts and other relatively minor injuries— though fortunately nothing too gruesome, as Courtney was never comfortable with the sight of blood.

Courtney hesitated. She wouldn't be able to hold off an entire force of Team Aqua on her own, of course, but if she let the research building get destroyed then she wouldn't be able to complete her objective.

Courtney joined the rest of her Team's retreat. After all, failing here would only cost Team Magma some time, while Courtney being captured would lose the Team one of its highest ranking members.

The amount of grunts fleeing with Courtney tapered off as some cut off to leave through different routes until eventually Courtney only had two members at her side. The three reached their assigned exit and barely let the doors slow them down. Now that they were outside, they were to each split off individually, which would help ensure that as few members as possible could be captured.

Or rather, that was what they _would_ do, had their paths not been blocked by a small squad of Team Aqua members.

"I think we got the person in charge of their operation here!" one of the members shouted into a little radio.

The person on the other end laughed. "Hold them there!"

Although the voice was masked through static and noise on their end, it sounded eerily familiar to Courtney for some reason, although she couldn't place it. At any rate, now wasn't the time to be thinking about whose voice she was reminded of.

"Come on, we can't let them catch us here!" she shouted to her allies as she tossed out a Pokéball.

The two grunts shouted in agreement as they each sent out a Pokémon of their own.

Two of the Team Aqua members paired off against Courtney's allies, which left three for her to face on her own. Courtney only had two Pokémon, which meant that luck was going to have to play a big part in getting her to safety. She tossed out her two Pokéballs, unleashing her Numel and Mightyena.

The three Team Aqua members sent out their own Pokémon: a Carvanha, a Wailmer, and the third had a Mightyena of their own.

Courtney's three opponents shouted out attacks in unison.

"Use Magnitude, Numel, and you use Bite, Mightyena! Go for Wailmer!"

Courtney's Mightyena was the fastest of the five Pokémon in battle and sank its teeth into the large Pokémon before any of its opponents could act. The opposing Mightyena was the second to act, throwing itself into its double, making it release its grip on the Wailmer. Courtney's Mightyena wasn't even able to get back up to its feet when the Carvanha bit into its flank. It let out a howl in pain. Next, the Wailmer let out a pulse of water. The blast washed over every other Pokémon in the fight. Courtney's Mightyena was already weakened, and didn't have a chance of withstanding the attack. Unfortunately, her Numel didn't fare any better, thanks to its crippling weakness to water.

Courtney knew her chances of victory were low, but she didn't expect to be defeated so quickly. She turned to see if her allies were faring better, but now that she was defeated the three Team Aqua members she had fought turned their focus on the other Team Magma members. Courtney recalled her Pokémon and fell to her knees. She racked her brain for some last chance at escape, but drew a complete blank. She cursed her inability to come up with a plan.

_Maybe I could just try running,_ Courtney thought. She knew it was almost completely hopeless— even if her foes couldn't keep up with her they would surely sic their Pokémon on her. She chose a direction and shut her eyes.

_Three…_ She began counting down. The two grunts were still holding their own in battle, which meant that no one was paying attention to her.

_Two. _Courtney grit her teeth and prepared to run faster than she had ever run before.

_One!_ Courtney lunged forward— right into a person who had arrived as she was preparing to run. The person had apparently braced themselves, so Courtney just bounced backwards and fell onto her butt. She jerked her head to look at the person who had stopped her.

Her jaw dropped.

It was Shelly.

Courtney's hood obscured her face, so it took a moment before Shelly realized who she had just stopped from escaping. Her reaction was the same as Courtney's, though she managed to conceal her shock before any of her allies could notice.

"Take those two and take them to where we have the others! I'll handle this one on my own," Shelly ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" the man who had called her over said before leading his group in taking the two Team Magma grunts away.

"Squirt," Shelly said to a girl who was standing behind her— another Team Aqua member, who had arrived with Shelly.

"Y-yeah?" she replied.

"You go with them, or go try and find some more escaping Magma goons to round up. Anything. Just leave me alone with her. I'll be all right."

"Boss, you know that's not allowed… Even if it's you, no one's supposed to go up against high ranking Team Magma members alone. It's too dangerous."

Shelly laughed. "I doubt she's going to be much of a threat. Her Pokémon are too weak to fight anymore, and she was trying to run away when we got here. I'll be fine."

The girl looked troubled, but turned to leave regardless. However, she had only taken a few steps before stopping and turning back around.

"I-I can't. I need to make sure you're safe."

Shelly raised her eyebrows at the girl, then giggled. "You're such a little sweetheart. Suit yourself then. For my sake though, anything you're about to hear stays between us, okay?"

The girl cocked her head. "Ma'am? What do you mean?"

Shelly didn't answer. Instead, she held out her hand to Courtney, and helped her to her feet.

"I've always hoped we'd get another chance to meet, you know. If I knew this is how our next meeting would be though…" Shelly's voice trailed off.

Instead of waiting for her to finish Courtney said, "I had been hoping that we'd be able to have a happier reunion than this too, yeah."

Shelly laughed. "The two of us just have the worst luck, don't we? We're gonna have to start quoting _Romeo and Juliet_."

Courtney giggled, but once she stopped neither girl continued the train of thought.

After a little while Shelly sighed. "You're my prisoner now. I'm supposed to take you in."

Courtney winced, then lowered her head. "There's nothing I can do to stop you."

Another silence, this one longer than the first.

"I guess… Well, there's no rush," Shelly said. "We won't really be free to chat when you're confined, so we better get everything we need to say out of the way now."

Courtney shrugged. "There's isn't much to say, though, is there? We know how we feel about each other, so there's no point treading that ground at this point. Unless you want to catch up with what we've been doing since the last time we saw each other."

Shelly smirked. "We could do that. Actually, I do have a question. How'd you end up with Team Magma?"

Courtney cocked her head. "What, really?"

"Yeah, why not? I mean, if you want me to just haul you in I guess I could."

"Well, okay…" Courtney scratched the back of her neck. "I ended up going back to school after giving up trying to be a trainer. I was studying to be a geologist. The leader of Team Magma was my professor. His ideas seemed weird at first, but he convinced some of us that he was right. That was how Team Magma started actually: he ended up having to leave the University, because his ideas were too radical for the school. Some of us left school to help him, and we became the first members of Team Magma. Nothing too exciting really. What about you then, how did you end up in Team Aqua?"

"It happened right after Lisia and I broke up. I was…" Shelly grimaced. "You know, my story isn't really interesting."

Courtney raised her eyebrow. "This was your idea."

"But I… Oh, okay." Shelly sighed then sat on the ground.

"Lisia and I broke up and, well, I didn't exactly take it well. I mean, we had been doing that whole Idol thing— it kind of makes you lose touch with reality. Lisia and I were basically a pair, and even though we had broken up we had to keep working together, so I ended up quitting. Of course, that meant that I was completely on my own. Lisia and I hadn't hit the big time yet, so it wasn't like we were rich or anything, and since we had been staying together I didn't have anywhere to live. It really seemed like I as in a hopeless situation at the time…

"I was at Lilycove's cliffs one night when I met Archie for the first time. He started talking to me about a bunch of things, and how he had plans to make the world a better place for Pokémon to live. He asked if I was willing to join him, and of course I said I would. By joining him I felt I had a reason to live again, you know?

"That's basically it. I wasn't the first member of the Team like you were though. He already had Matt and a few other people helping him at the time. Anyway, that's why we do the things we do: because we want to make the world a better place for Pokémon. I know our methods can be extreme at times, but Archie says that once we accomplish our goal everyone would be lining up to thank us."

Courtney exhaled. "That's pretty noble of you. It's sort of the same thing for me, actually. Only with Maxie, of course. All we really want is to make the world a better place."

Neither girl said anything for a while. Courtney stared at her feet. If the two had nothing else to talk about, then Shelly would be taking her away now.

Finally, Shelly's assistant broke the silence. "Ma'am, shouldn't we—"

Shelly grimaced. "I guess…"

She wrapped her arms around Courtney, smothering the shorter girl in a way she hadn't since the two were teenagers. She let go of Courtney to let her catch her breath and turned to her assistant. "I guess it's too bad I sent you away with the rest of the guys," she said, "it was silly of me to expect to be able to handle a Team Magma Admin on my own. I guess I should have listened to you."

"M-ma'am?"

Shelly patted the girl on the shoulder. "Don't worry, squirt. You were only listening to my orders, so this is all my fault."

Courtney looked up at her old friend, deeply confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

Shelly winked. "You outsmarted me is what happened. I thought I could handle you on my own, but you managed to get away from me."

"W-wait, you mean you're going to let me go?"

"Yeah. I mean, you're an important Team Magma member. I don't think you'd be in danger really, but I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt."

"Are you sure?"

"It'll be okay."

"I… Thanks, Shelly."

"Come on, you better hurry in case someone comes to see what's taking me so long."

Courtney threw her arms around Shelly.

"I guess this is goodbye, then?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Shelly kissed Courtney's forehead.

Courtney let go of Shelly, then hesitated for a moment.

She felt ready to cry, but managed to hold it in.

Courtney ran.

She ran until her legs were sore, and then ran some more. Finally she stumbled to her knees, and the tears she had been holding in came pouring out. She tried to get to her feet so she could run some more. She knew she had to be safe, but she felt that running was the only thing she could do to keep herself from crying.

She managed to stand, but her legs were like jelly, and she fell back to the ground. She dragged herself over to a tree and propped herself against it. She buried her face in her hands and sighed, when suddenly her Pokénav beeped.

She knew it was just Tabitha trying to find out her status, so she ignored it. He could track her through the Pokénav's GPS anyway.

Courtney tried to block out what had just happened with Shelly, since she knew it was pointless to dwell on it.

She struggled futilely for about ten minutes when a pair of Team Magma grunts arrived to escort her back to the base.

As the three left, Courtney glanced back at the research facility she had just ran from and sighed.

The last time she and Shelly said goodbye to each other, they thought it would be the last time they saw each other.

Maybe they would have another chance this time too.


End file.
